The purpose of this award is to prepare the applicant, Margo Minissian, MSN, ACNP, with knowledge and skills to become a successful NIH-funded, independent, academic, nurse scientist in biological and bio behavioral nursing in the area of preventive heart disease, with a focus on women's health. The current application will be instrumental in achieving this goal. The proposed research study will provide: 1) knowledge in key content areas, specifically maternal fetal health, epidemiology, population-based research, cardiovascular physiology, and advanced statistical analysis, and 2) research skills in design, noninvasive measures of cardiovascular and endothelial function, and application of statistical methods for study of physiological data. The objective of the planned research study is to identify biological markers of future cardiovascular risk. Using a longitudinal, comparative design, the applicant will compare two groups, women who experience spontaneous preterm delivery (sPTD) (= 34 weeks) and women who experience term deliveries (=39 weeks) at two time points (24-72 hours and 6 months postpartum). The following key variables related to future risk of cardiovascular disease will be evaluated: vascular function (augmentation index and augmented pressure measured by pulse wave analysis, pulse wave velocity). Secondary measures to establish effect sizes for future study include: inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein and interleukin-6) and endothelial function (reactive hyperemia index measured by peripheral arterial tonometry) will be collected to calculate effect sizes in this particular cohor. These results will provide pilot data for a future award aimed at examining relationships among putative indicators of cardiovascular risk over an extended period of time. Ultimately, the outcome of this research will inform relationships between sPTD and future maternal CVD risk. This effort will shape future studies aimed at developing early screening and treatment for CVD in women, the number one killer of women world-wide.